November 2008 Articles By Sector: Insurance and wealth management

The owner of a famous trade mark can stop a similar mark being used for completely different goods and services but must show that the new mark will have an economic impact on consumers to its detriment, the European Court of Justice has ruled.

Guns N' Roses and frontman Axl Rose have threatened legal proceedings against Dr Pepper over an unauthorised publicity stunt that offered a free bottle of the soft drink to every American in celebration of the band's first new album in 14 years.

Consumers across the European Union could be given new powers to join forces to sue a business under plans announced by the European Commission today. Class action lawsuits could be publicly funded under the proposals.

The Sun newspaper has been ordered not to use the word 'bloody' on posters in future. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said it was socially irresponsible to use the word in an advert that appeared in a public place.

Apple has been told not to repeat a TV advert for its iPhone 3G mobile phone. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said the ad was misleading because it implied that users would enjoy faster download speeds than the device actually achieves.

The Government has rejected calls for a law that would require significant data security breaches to be notified to the country's privacy regulator. It said that notification to the Information Commissioner should be a matter of good practice, not law....

The Information Commissioner will be able to perform spot-checks on government departments and public sector bodies to make sure they are complying with the Data Protection Act under new plans announced by the Government yesterday.

The powers of Government to share data will be increased under new laws announced yesterday. Legislation will introduce a fast-track procedure to allow data sharing whenever "a robust case" can be made for sharing, said a Ministry of Justice report.